96: Trick or Treat
"What has gotten into you?" Jane could only stare at her husband, he was… decorating the outside of their house. She had gotten home from work, tired and her fingers felt gnarly. He was on some off-time due to a slowdown in work, something his boss had informed him tended to happen in the fall and going into winter. There would be odd jobs, sure, but nothing like the forty hour plus work weeks he had been sort of enjoying. When Dean had informed Jane of that, she had been glad she was the one to handle their finances, she doubted Dean knew what the meaning of 'saving money' was.
Dean grinned down at her from his perch at the top of his ladder, a string of something hanging from one hand. "Decorating, sweetheart!"
"Decorating." She echoed, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she took in the house. He had put up what looked like lights along the eaves. "Are those… are you decorating for Halloween?" So far, they had done pretty well in integrating into normal society, in living like normal people… minus the demon traps painted on their floors beneath rugs, various odds and ends strewn about for protection and defense, and a few other precautions, but this… this she hadn't expected. Dean hadn't really shown much interest in doing the holidays so far.
"Yes."
Baby yapped at her feet and Jane stooped down to scratch behind Baby's little years. In the two months since she had brought home her adorable little mutt, Baby had grown a bit. She was less wobbly, and more inclined to chew up Dean's shoes than Jane's. Something Jane would be eternally grateful for. "What the hell are you wearing?" She realized that her dog was wearing a red cape, frowning. Her eyes scanned the yard and finally the porch, spotting what looked like a headband, with devil horns attached. "Did you dress up my dog?"
"Tried too."
Shaking her head, Jane headed inside.
"How's he doing?"
"Better, I think." Jane was leaning against the kitchen counter, phone cradled between her ear and shoulder, sipping her coffee. Dean was still outside with Baby, clattering up on the roof, she wasn't asking. "He's not drinking so much anymore."
"Still reading them books? Doing the Internet thing?"
"Yes, but I doubt that'll ever stop." She turned to rinse out her now empty mug, glancing at the timer on the stove. She had cleaned up, started dinner, and called Bobby for their weekly 'check in'. "The nightmares aren't so bad anymore, either." She offered after a moment.
Bobby was quiet for a few seconds longer than normal. "Think maybe he's finally adjusting?"
"Well…" She winced at another clunk from above her head. "If not, he's doing a good job of pretending."
"That'd be Dean." Bobby snorted. "Idjit."
Dean had tried pretending everything was all right, he had mostly avoided conversations about Sam, but there were things he just couldn't hide. Not from her, Lord knew not from her. She knew when he was drinking heavily, she was all too familiar with how out of control his nightmares could, she knew when her husband was not right. Not that she had expected him to be, not so soon after Sam's plunge into the cage. It had only been roughly five months, but things were getting better.
"How about you, Jane? How're you doing?"
"I'm good." Which she was. Adjusting to life as it should be hadn't been too much of an issue for her, she had grown up mostly normal. This was just a nicer shade of normal. She sometimes got paranoid that something that went bump in the night would come out of the shadows, she still slept with all limbs on the bed and never overhanging, but she was all right. "How about you old man?"
"My kitchen could use a good scrubbing."
"Well," She wasn't surprised, Bobby wasn't exactly winning any awards for cleanest of them all. "I guess you ought to get to that then."
Her front yard and front of her house now resembled something out of a low class horror flick, and Jane idly wondered just how in the blue hell her husband was spending his new free days off. "When did we get all this?" She asked curiously, weaving her way between the fake tombstones that now littered her yard.
"Yesterday and today." Dean had just finished putting away his ladder and was grinning from ear to ear. "Wait until night and I light this baby up."
Baby yipped.
"Yeah, we'll light you up too, devil dog." He squatted down to pet her. "I got you an awesome new collar, huh?"
"Passing out candy then?"
He nodded, glancing up at her.
"Going to wear a costume?"
The grin that spread across his face was cute, and it made Jane's heart do some weird flutters. "We both are."
"We?" She echoed, noise wrinkling.
"Oh yeah," He straightened, reaching out to pull her into him. "Just wait until you see what you're wearing."
Flutters turned to apprehension. "I don't trust you, Winchester."
The cute grin turned decidedly evil. "You shouldn't, Mrs. Winchester."
"You're an ass."
Dean didn't say a word, he was too busy appreciating the view. It was Halloween, and in a few hours, they would be passing out candy. Well, she would. He'd be busy ogling her. "Now this." He passed over her prop, smirking when she reluctantly took it. "Perfect."
Dean's costume for her was Wonder Woman… of all things, and not a cheap knock-off from Walmart. He had actually spent some money on this, including the Lasso of Truth prop, which she was considering using on him. It wouldn't have been too bad, if it had been the Lynda Carter version, which wouldn't have been made out of whatever weird material her costume was, and the Carter version would have lower heeled boots. "So, honey, where'd you get this?"
"Website." He wasn't telling her, she'd murder him. His eyes were roaming her legs, that was a lot of leg, and those red boots… Dean let out a low whistle. "I love Halloween." If he'd of known before that Jane would actually put this stuff on, squeeze her pert backside into that awesome, clingy material… they'd of been celebrating Halloween for years. Or, she could have just gone out hunting in the costumes, that'd of worked too.
"You better have a Tarzan costume." She growled, trying not to let her amusement show. She didn't really care for the costume, but it was hard not to appreciate the way he was ogling her. That alone made this worth it.
"Nope." He said finally, clearing the huskiness from his tone.
"Then what?"
He grinned again.
"Trick or treat!" Angie greeted, cradling a bundled up Samantha to her as she and Landon made their way up the front walk. It was crisp out, and Samantha's first Halloween, not that she cared. She wasn't even three months old, Sammy wasn't even awake. "Wow, Jane… nice legs."
"Shut up." Jane reached into the big bowl of candy, procured a sucker and held it out to her friend.
"Thanks," Angie passed it back to Landon. "Where's your husband?"
"Around here somewhere. The bassinet is in the living room if you want to pop the munchkin down." Jane stepped aside so Angie could come up and in, glancing down at Samantha. "She gets cuter every time I see her."
"You should see her at four AM in the morning, she's not so cute then." Angie laughed, disappearing inside.
Landon was studying the yard, taking in all the props. "Dean went a little overboard, didn't he?"
"Just a tad." Jane watched with an amused smile as he bent over one of the scarecrow dummies propped on their patio chairs. Dean had apparently used an actual hunt he had been on for those, they were terrifying.
Landon let out a decidedly unmanly shriek when one of the scarecrows leapt at him.
"Trick or treat!" There was a gaggle of children coming, and some of them seemed anxious about the scarecrow that was now doubled over, laughing its evil ass off. She made her way down to greet them, trying not to laugh herself as she passed out candy.
Trick or treat indeed.
